Chapter 21 Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables Ayi, your uncle is here to take you home...

The rain came suddenly, and soon, yellow mud rolled outside the tent.

In order to facilitate entry and exit, the curtain of the Huotou Camp was lifted and tied into a knot.

The cold wind blew through the hall, and Jiang Yanyi shivered: "I don't know when this rain will stop."

Qiu Kui came in from outside the tent holding a pile of firewood. She tried her best to protect the firewood, but the firewood in her arms was still wet by the rain. Hearing Jiang Yanyi's words, she said: "There is thunder and lightning, I'm afraid it will rain until night, and the firewood outside is all soaked in water."

The firewood of the Xizhou camp has always been piled outside the tent. It rained today when the Huotou Camp was handing over food and grass to the Liaoning Army. They could not take care of the firewood outside at all, and only found canvas to cover the tent.

Jiang Yanyi saw that her clothes were mostly wet, and hurriedly said: "Go to the fire pit and warm yourself up. What if you catch a cold?"

Qiu Kui put the firewood next to the fire pit. The wound on her forehead was soaked by rainwater, and she grimaced in pain. Afraid that Jiang Yanyi would worry, she raised her face and smiled foolishly, with her wet hair sticking to her forehead: "I feel sorry for the dry firewood outside. It's soaked by rainwater. How can I burn it later?"

Jiang Yanyi heard this and glanced at the steamer next to him and frowned secretly.

The news that the soldiers had bad food reached the ears of the general, and the general specially ordered to make delicious food today to reward the soldiers.

Several chefs on the stove planned to make braised pork, and the dishes in the steamer were the most wasteful of firewood.

But it was already this late, and the ingredients were almost ready, so it was too late to change the dishes.

"How much firewood can you bring in by yourself? The wound on your forehead hasn't scabbed yet, so you can't get wet. Don't go out, just use wet firewood to burn it with dry firewood."

She quickly poured a spoonful of chopped pork belly into the pot to blanch it, threw in a handful of green onions and ginger slices, and added some rice wine to remove the fishy smell.

Qiu Kui listened to Jiang Yanyi's caring words, brushed the wet hair on her forehead with her hand, and smiled shyly.

When she saw Jiang Yanyi start to cut the soaked dried mustard greens, her eyes suddenly brightened, but dimmed again in an instant: "My mother used to like to use dried mustard greens to make pancakes, they were delicious, but unfortunately I never ate them again." When

Jiang Yanyi heard this, she remembered that when she registered, she heard Qiu Kui say that her parents died on the way to escape. So she said: "You want to eat dried mustard greens and braised pork pancakes? Then I'll make it tonight."

Qiu Kui's eyes were instantly full of light again, "How much do you sell one for? I'll buy it from you."

Jiang Yanyi pretended to be angry: "If you mention money again in the future, I won't let you help light the fire."

Qiu Kui heard this, afraid that Jiang Yanyi really didn't want her to light the fire, and she didn't dare to mention it again.

The pork belly in the pot was almost cooked. Jiang Yanyi took the meat out, poked many small holes in the pork skin with a bamboo stick, brushed it with sauce, poured a lot of oil into the pot, and when the oil temperature came up, put all the pork belly with the pork skin facing down into the pot to fry.

Frying is to force out the excess fat in the pork so that the meat is not too greasy. After frying the pork skin and then steaming it, the taste is also softer, more glutinous and more elastic.

The pork was put into the pot, and there was a crackling sound in the pot, and oil beads splashed everywhere. Jiang Yanyi quickly covered it with a solid wooden pot lid.

Seeing her busy and frying the pork in the pan, Chef Zhu at the next stove could not help but cast a disdainful look at her: "Master Jiang, are you going to fry the pork dry and make it into oil residue?"

His words made several firemen laugh.

There had never been a woman in the firemen camp. Many people flattered Jiang Yanyi and called her Master Jiang on the surface, but they were different in private. Some even thought that Chef Li and Tou'er Zhao were so fond of her as a camp prostitute, just because she was young and beautiful. Who knows what the three of them were doing behind her back.

Jiang Yanyi didn't even raise her eyelids. She lifted the lid of the pot and scooped up the fried pork belly. She said with regret: "It's a pity that the pig is too fat. It's hard to fry it into oil residue."

Qiu Kui burst out laughing, and several firemen who helped Zhu the chef also buried their heads to hold back their laughter.

Zhu the chef realized later that Jiang Yanyi was not talking about the pork at all, but was clearly scolding him.

He was so angry that his face turned red and his neck was thick. The fat on his belly trembled with his breathing. He threatened: "I want to see what kind of braised pork you can make!"

Jiang Yanyi didn't say anything else. She knew that she would become a chef on the stove so quickly, and there would always be people who would not accept it.

But so what, in the chef's business, everyone makes a living based on their own ability.

But when Chef Zhu saw him frying the pork in the pan, he looked at her as if he had seen a joke. Could it be that they didn't fry the pork before making braised pork?

Jiang Yanyi became curious and turned her head to watch Chef Zhu making the braised pork.

Chef Zhu noticed it with his sharp eyes and thought that Jiang Yanyi didn't know how to make braised pork at all and wanted to steal his skills.

He was so scared that his mustache trembled and he quickly turned around to block Jiang Yanyi's sight with his fat body. He felt that the blocking was not thorough enough, so he called the two firemen who helped him to the side of the stove to block him.

Facing Chef Zhu's eyes that said "I will never let you steal my skills", Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Every time he did a step afterwards, he would glance at Jiang Yanyi to make sure that Jiang Yanyi was not staring at him before he started.

When Chef Zhu looked this way, Jiang Yanyi simply stretched his neck to look that way, which frightened Chef Zhu so much that he wanted to run three meters away with the pot on his shoulder.

Chef Zhu had to make braised pork with pork belly while being on guard against Jiang Yanyi. He was exhausted after several attempts. He turned his head to look over there again and found that Jiang Yanyi was also looking at that side leisurely. He was immediately furious: "Don't try to learn it secretly!"

Jiang Yanyi blinked innocently: "Master Zhu, what are you talking about? I was just watching the rain outside."

Chef Zhu became even angrier. His position was right near the door of the tent. He said angrily: "You obviously want to learn how to make braised pork with pork belly!"

Compared to Chef Zhu's anger, Jiang Yanyi seemed particularly calm. She said: "I just want to learn. There are a circle of people around your stove. I have to be able to see it too."

The teasing tone made everyone in the barracks laugh.

"Master Zhu, Master Jiang is your junior on the stove, why do you, as an elder, always feel bad for the junior?"

"Isn't it because Master Zhu feels that his skills are not as good as Master

Jiang's after seeing how many awards he has received?" The firemen who had benefited from Jiang Yanyi before all spoke up for her.

Chef Zhu was accused of bullying the younger generation and almost fainted on the spot. He continued to let the firemen block the stove and vowed not to let Jiang Yanyi learn secretly.

Jiang Yanyi didn't have time to pay attention to the fat old man anymore and continued to make his own pork with preserved vegetables.

She sliced ​​the cooled pork belly and put it into the prepared sauce to color and marinate. She added

oil to the pan and chopped the ginger and garlic into small pieces. After frying the ginger, garlic and star anise and bay leaves, she poured in the pickled mustard greens and continued to stir-fry. When the okra was well-seasoned, she turned off the heat and used chopsticks to pick out the star anise and bay leaves.

The army had special coarse earthenware bowls for making braised pork. Jiang Yanyi put the meat with the sauce into the bowl piece by piece, with the pork skin facing down, and pressed the meat slices tightly without leaving any gaps. Finally, she put the fried pickled mustard greens on top and put them in the steamer to steam.

After making 100 braised pork bowls, Jiang Yanyi finally had a moment of leisure.

It was unknown what was going on outside, the noise was so loud that many people in the barracks crowded to the door to watch the excitement.

Jiang Yanyi turned her head and took a look, but she had no interest in going to watch.

Seeing that Qiu Kui seemed to want to go, she sat down by the fire pit to help her watch the fire, so that Qiu Kui could go and watch the excitement without worry.

Not long after, Qiu Kui ran back with a look of deep regret on her face, "Hua Hua, Liu Cheng has been sentenced to beheading."

Jiang Yanyi was slightly stunned. The crime Liu Cheng committed was not worthy of being sentenced to beheading.

She looked at the crowd at the entrance of the barracks and asked in disbelief, "The execution was carried out outside the Huotou Camp?"

Qiu Kui shook her head quickly, "No, someone died outside. It was Hu Ji from the barracks next to us. She used to be in a relationship with Liu Cheng."

As soon as Qiu Kui mentioned Hu Ji, Jiang Yanyi had an impression of her. She was a woman who was more voluptuous and charming than Chunxiang, but her presence was very low, as if she was deliberately hiding herself.

Liu Cheng was sentenced to beheading for attempted murder, and Hu Ji, who had been in a relationship with him, also died suddenly. Jiang Yanyi felt that things might not be simple.

She asked, "How did that Hu Ji die?"

Qiu Kui whispered, "People from the Tiger Battalion came to look for her, only to find that she had died behind the tent. When she was carried out, her body was stiff. I heard that she took a kitchen knife and slit her own throat."

Jiang Yanyi frowned. The body was stiff, and it was obvious that the Hu Ji did not die just now.

Another suicide... Could it be for love?

But even if it was for love, Liu Chengdu was not dead yet. Wasn't she too hasty?

Unless she had some unspeakable secret!

Jiang Yanyi inexplicably felt that things might not be peaceful in the future. Now she just hoped that her fake household registration could get away with it.

The chief in charge of these camp prostitutes had leaked the news before. After verifying their identities, there is a high probability that these decent girls will be allowed to leave the barracks and regain their freedom. I just hope that the suicide of the Hu girl will not have any impact on this matter.

Jiang Yanyi originally planned that after she left the barracks and settled down, she would have the chance to return to the capital to visit her original mother.

She occupied the body of the original body to live again, and she still had to fulfill her filial piety for the original body.

The sky was gray, and thin clouds piled up on the horizon, closing the dusk inch by inch.

The rain had subsided, and water droplets hung on the withered and yellow grasses that fell by the roadside.

On the desolate low slope, there was only a lonely grave.

The surrounding area was covered with weeds. Because it was a new grave, the grave was bare, which was particularly eye-catching and desolate.

A pair of black boots slowly stepped on the muddy ground. The cold wind lifted the hem of his clothes, drawing a sharp arc in the desolate sky and earth.

His followers behind him kept waving white ghost money, some of which fell on the weeds beside the road, some fell in the middle of the road and were trampled into the mud. Some people held up soul-calling banners made of ghost paper.

It was a ritual staff to lead the soul.

The man walked to the grave and stopped, his body slender, his face with clear outlines and a short beard made him look more majestic, but his eyes were slightly red.

He looked at the thin wooden tablet in front of the grave without any words engraved on it, stretched out his rough big hand, and slowly touched it, his voice hoarse: "Since my uncle was demoted to Yongzhou, he didn't know the many changes in the capital. My uncle came too late, and you have suffered so much in this poor place..."

When he said the latter part, his voice was choked with sobs.

The 8-foot-tall man, the iron-blooded man who never blinked on the battlefield, burst into tears at this moment.

If he had gotten the news earlier, he would have risked his life and not let his niece be sent to this poor place to be humiliated by the immoral king on the dragon throne!

He stroked the wooden tablet, his eyes red: "Ayi, your uncle is here to take you home!"